Cursed
by nipplequeen
Summary: "Didn't you once say that you suffer because of your ties? I'm fed up of suffering for people who don't care, who think I'm weak. Those types of ties are pitiful, that's why I'm cutting them."
1. Chapter 1

Footsteps echoed all over the narrow tunnel, creating the illusion that more than one person was approaching. Rats scurried away from the source, water dripping dangerously on their head. Muttering under their breath, they sharply turned a corner, keys jangling against their thigh. Today was not a good day. Reaching a gate, they unhooked the keys from the loop and proceeded with picking out the right one.

"A visitor, how rare." The shadow slid the key into the hold, turning it until a click broke the silence. Removing the key, a hand pushed gently on the gate. It creaked open, dragging out the noise. The visitor hated noises like that. Stepping in, their sandals scuffed across the stone.

Opposite them, a single candle illuminated the wall, creating monsters out of the shadows. Underneath it, a dark haired man was chained to the wall, his narrow eyes staring at them. The visitor stepped into the light, a shadow clinging to one side of their face. A look of disgust flashed across his face. "Hyuga." He snarled, balling his hands into fists.

"Not a nice way to greet the person who's come to free you now, is it?" the woman's voice was like a stream, smooth and silent, yet daring at the same time. Her dark hair tumbled over her shoulders, reaching her hips in small waves. A single white eye stared at the man, glinting with mischief.

"I don't feel the need to be nice." He spat, glaring at her. A smirk spread across her features. She stepped closer, crouching down so her face was level with his. "I see what they mean when they say you're attractive, Sasuke." Looking down at her hands, she twirled two keys around her fingers. "If it wasn't for that insane look on your face, I might've given you a chance." She raised her eye to look at him.

Up close, he could see that Hinata had gotten prettier since he last saw her. She now looked like a woman instead of a small, weak girl with tomboy hair. "I'd prefer to have the chance to chain you up, torture you and slice off that pretty little head of yours."

"You're insane."  
"What's insanity, my dear?"

She frowned at him; the keys stopped moving and landed flat in her palm. She had never been asked this question before. She'd never been asked a question she didn't know the answer to. It was a horrible feeling. "You tell me." Her fingers wrapped around the keys, her head tilting slightly.

The white eye watched his every move. Sasuke felt intimidated, it was as if the eye knew everything about him, knew what he was thinking and what he was going to say. "Who knows?" he murmured, his lips barely moving.

Hinata watched him before opening her hand up, revealing the two keys. Placing one in her left hand and leaving the other in her right, she smiled at him. "Time to go back to the real world, Sasuke." She twisted her wrists and the locks clicked.

The cuffs that held onto his wrists fell, leaving bruise marks and cuts. The chains rattled as they fell, signalling his freedom. Lowering his aching arms, he rubbed his wrists. "They could have at least made these bloody things comfortable." He muttered, frowning at the marks.

"I think they were more concerned about keeping you locked up than whether or not you felt comfortable." Hinata stood, tossing the keys into a corner.

Holding out her hand, she smiled at him again. A smile that contained as much sanity as a serial killers. Her eye looked scarier, holding no emotion. "Shall we?" one corner of her mouth was tilted up more than the other; a mask covered her left eye.

Sasuke took the woman's hand and allowed himself to be hoisted up. A grin sat comfortably on his lips, a menacing look sparked in his eyes. "Time to go and visit my long lost friends." Hinata let go of his hand, letting her own hand limply by her side.

Turning on her heel, her hips swayed slightly as she made her way out of the gate, stopping for a brief second to look at him over her shoulder. He followed behind, the grin not faltering at all.

"Happy?" She called out to him while avoiding dead rats and puddles of blood. It was a disgusting place, but she'd seen worse. A lot worse. "I guess you could say that." He replied, analysing the walls. "Anyway, what happened to the idiot who used to stutter and blush at the sight of Naruto and was too shy to speak to anyone?"

"She grew up."  
"I can see that. Quite clearly, actually."

Hinata chuckled before turning a corner, only to be greeted by several anbu, a confused Naruto and a glaring Sakura. Stopping, she placed a hand on her hip. Sasuke stopped next to her, his face full of seriousness. "Hinata, what are you doing?" Naruto's eyebrows furrowed as he asked, taking in the scene before him.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" her single eye bore into his soul. A few years ago, her cheeks would've gone pink and she would've fainted. A few years ago, she would've ran away.

That was before everything happened.

"It looks like you're giving freedom to someone, someone we haven't approved yet." He folded his arms, glaring at the Uchiha whom he had previously described as his best friend. "Tell me, Mr Future Hokage, how you can approve of someone when they're chained up in a small room on their own. There's nothing to approve of." Her tone was daring, oozing with confidence.

The blonde was silent, unable to think of an answer. The former heiress was right, there was nothing to approve of and the treatment they were giving Sasuke would make him worse. "Then we'll improve his accommodation." Sakura spoke up, a look of jealousy all over her face. Hinata was stood so close to Sasuke, he didn't seem bothered by the fact they were inches apart.

And they looked good together.

"You mean have him move into your house on close guard so you can live out your dream for a year and pray that he likes it so that when his probation is over, he'll stay with you and realise his true love for you?" Hinata raised an eyebrow at the pink haired medical nin.

Sakura lunged at Hinata, her fists out. "You bitch!" Aiming a punch at the dark haired girl, she focused her chakra into her fist. If this hit her, she'd be clinging onto life. Sakura liked this idea. She wanted to do it again and again, to damage that face that older women cooed over and the body men drooled over.

Hinata sidestepped the punch easily, resulting in Sakura crashing to the ground and creating a deep hole. Hinata tutted at it. "Damn, Sakura. This place is ruined enough as it is without you punching holes in it."

Sasuke watched Hinata, coming to like the way she'd 'grown up'. Instead of letting people walk all over her, she walked all over them. She took advantage of their feelings and liked seeing them in pain. The innocent girl had a sadistic side to her, a side that interested him.

"Hinata, what's wrong with you? You used to be so nice, so kind and caring." Naruto's voice sounded hurt, almost distraught. Hinata turned her head to him, glaring at the jinchuuriki.

"What's wrong with me?" She tilted her head slightly. "Nothing's wrong with me. Yes, I may be the opposite of the precious Hinata everyone used to love and use, but that isn't really a bad thing is it." She took two steps towards the blonde, the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.

"It is when you hurt people I care about." He growled, clenching his fists and digging his nails into his palms. Hinata sighed and gave him a look that held a slight bit of sympathy. "Yet another victim of unrequited love." Taking two more steps closer to him, her face now directly in front of his. "Tell me, Naruto, what it like is to love someone." She whispered.

Tracing her finger along his jaw line, finding amusement in the way his body tensed, she leaned in closer. "Tell me what it is like to put your life on the line for someone you care about, someone who doesn't consider you as a precious person."

Tilting his chin up, she murmured against his neck. "Go on, Naruto. Tell me." She smirked, feeling him tremble. "It hurts, doesn't it? It hurts to love someone and care about them." The blonde nodded. He had never felt fear like this, it was different to the fear he'd felt many times before.

This was fear because of someone understanding him, someone knowing exactly what he felt. It scared him, thinking that he could end up being like the person causing him this much fear.

Feeling satisfied, Hinata stepped back, making her way to Sasuke. His sharingan was active, the red glowing in the darkness. "Sasuke, have some fun." Hinata smirked, her once wide and innocent eyes now narrowed and unfeeling. "I was planning on it."

Nobody saw him move; the only thing they felt was a rush of cold air and warm blood splattering on them. Naruto stood in shock as blood dripped down his face, splatters dotted all over his usual orange outfit. Sakura sat on the ground behind Hinata, too scared to move. It seemed like Sasuke hadn't been chained up or had his Kekkei Genkai sealed for three years. It was almost as if he had improved.

The anbu bodies lay on the floor, some with heads and most without. Their masks had cracked, revealing eyes wide with fear and mouths open, prepared to shout out jutsus. Hinata move in a blur of purple and black, standing next to the Uchiha. "I'll let you two live, for now." Sasuke looked at his former teammates before walking away.

"Why, Sasuke and Hinata?" Sakura's shoulders were shaking, tears dropping onto her hands. "Why aren't you the Sasuke and Hinata I used to know?" She shouted, making Sasuke and Hinata stop in their tracks. Both turned, an expression filled with no emotion on their faces.

"Because I grew up." Hinata's voice was low, showing that she didn't really care about explaining herself properly.  
"Because I got bored." Sasuke smirked.

They continued to walk off, leaving a blood stained Naruto and Sakura behind.


	2. Chapter 2

The two ninja made their way up the winding staircase in silence. They could still hear the slight echo of Naruto and Sakura's voices, crying and shouting out to them.

The voices were getting closer instead of further away. They were trying to catch up with Hinata and Sasuke, they wanted to stop them and talk to them. Sasuke sighed and turned on his heel, tugging on Hinata's wrist to bring her level to him.

The white eye was back on him, glaring once again. He shrugged it off and stayed staring at the stairs until yellow hair bobbed into sight. "Thank god you guys stopped." Naruto panted, Sakura bent over with her hands on her legs.

"What do you guys plan on doing?" Sakura coughed. Naruto had dragged her along with him, running at a speed she wouldn't have been able to keep up with if he hadn't gripped onto her hand.

Sasuke flicked his eyes to Hinata before looking back at his old teammates. "I don't know, what do you plan to do Hinata?"

Her face was blank, deprived of any emotion. "Is it any of your business?" she drawled out, her eye narrowing at the pink haired ninja. Sakura looked up in confusion and shook her head slowly.

"Then don't ask." Hinata turned and climbed the few stairs left, turning her head once she reached the top. Even though she could only see the back of his head, she knew Sasuke was smirking. Naruto and Sakura's face gave it away.

"Hurry up, Sasuke."  
"Let me say bye to my friends, princess."

His smirk widened. "Naruto, Sakura. Ever tried getting up stairs using just your arms?" Their eyes widened, mouths dropping into tiny 'o' shapes. Lifting his hand out, Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"About time you tried then." Lightning surrounded his hand, lighting up the walls. Naruto's hands went to form the sign for shadow clones but Sasuke was too fast. His chidori split into four straight lines, one going into each of their legs.

Naruto and Sakura cried out in pain and fell to their knees, pain shooting through their body. The lightning crackled for a few more moments before dissolving into nothing. "Sasuke." Naruto growled, trying to move but the pain was too intense.

"I haven't just cut open your legs, so it's not going to get better any time soon." He turned and followed Hinata, walking straight out of the door. Hinata waved and backed out of the door, her laughter almost silent.

Hinata caught up to Sasuke in no time, resuming their walk in silence. Their shadows stretches in the silence, Sasuke's looked mysterious, the way it stretched made you question what he actually looked like.

Hinata's was small yet rough around the edges. Her posture was perfect, reflecting her Hyuga heritage.

She hated it. She hated the family she had once known. Putting up with harsh words and constantly being pushed behind her limits had ruined her sanity. She had begun to crave power and wanted to become strong, stronger than anyone else in the village.

Luckily for her, the chance to gain power arrived at her feet during the war.  
Sadly, to get that power she had to pay a price.

Hinata turned a corner again, speeding up. "Oi, Hyuga, don't move so fast." Sasuke grumbled from behind her. "Some of us haven't been able to move that much for a long time." The Hyuga jerked her head to look at him. If looks could kill.

"Don't like it, don't follow me." She snapped before turning her attention to the path ahead of her. They were directly underneath the hokage tower, travelling through a supposedly secret passageway that led into the mountains behind the village.

Hinata was well aware that the hokage knew where they were and could prevent them from leaving the village at any point. However, the hokage also knew how serious Hinata was about leaving the village and taking the Uchiha with her, granting him freedom.

Sasuke panted behind her, struggling to keep up with the dark haired female. She seemed desperate to get away, as if she'd wanted this for so long. She was impatient with the Uchiha, showing that she'd taken time out of her schedule to free him.

No matter how much she acted like she didn't care, she sometimes took other peoples wants into consideration. Only if they were like her, if they were helpless in some way, shape or form.

They both reached a dead end and the Hyuga frowned. Lifting out her hand, she went to place it on the wall when Sasuke caught her wrist. "Genjutsu. Press this wall and you'll activate something that will chop us to pieces, princess." She looked up at her eyes and saw his sharingan glowing.

Turning to face the wall, he concentrated. "Byakugan, Hyuga." He muttered. Hinata froze. She hadn't used her byakugan since that time, the pain was too much for her to handle and would make her scream out in pain, clawing at her face and eyes, begging for it all to go away.

Sasuke sensed unease coming from her and frowned. Surely using the byakugan would come naturally to Hinata. Even though she hadn't used it through this short journey, he figured she'd memorised everything or been down here many times before.

"Hyuga, what's wrong?" He turned his full attention to her fear stricken form now, her single revealed eye wide. "I can't. We'll have to use another route." She shook her head and turned to face the wall on the right hand side of Sasuke.

"What are you talking about? There is no other route." He raised his voice slightly, getting irritated. He'd thought this girl was strong, feared nothing and yet here she was terrified at the thought of using her bloodline limit.

"Isn't there?" She grinned before charging at the wall and kicking it, sending rocks flying and leaving a hole in the wall. She turned to Sasuke and put her thumb up, grinning like an idiot before stepping through the hole.

In his lifetime, however short it may be, Sasuke Uchiha had never seen someone look so proud of themselves after kicking a hole in a wall. He also hadn't seen someone putting their thumb up in a while.

Shaking his head, he followed her into the hole. She'd disappeared from his sight. Raising his eyebrow, he lowered his gaze to the ground. If he didn't have the sharingan, he probably would've panicked in a situation like this.

Just as he thought, small dusty footprints were on the floor, walking straight ahead. He followed, scuffing the footprints as he went and adding his own going in a separate direction to confuse any pursuers.

A small amount of light caught his eye. Sasuke looked up, seeing the Hyuga's form stood in front of the exit with her hands on her hips. "I thought Uchiha's were supposed to be fast." She shouted down at him.

Sasuke just shrugged and took extra care to approach her slowly, enjoying her angry expression. Just before his toe was about to move into the light, Hinata pulled him back and pressed him against the wall of the tunnel, covering his mouth.

Voices could be heard outside, talking about them.

"So we head in and capture them?"  
"Yes, they haven't exited yet so they must be stuck somewhere."

Footsteps rushed into the small tunnel, all skidding to a halt at once when they sensed someone watching them from the entrance. "It's a shame, a real shame." Hinata muttered before stepping out slowly. The last thing the men saw was the Hyuga and Uchiha stood, grinning at them.

Next, everything went black and rocks crushed them.

They both stood, staring at the collapsing boulders.  
"Hyuga."  
"What is it, Uchiha?"

She began to walk away towards the forest, Sasuke walking alongside her. "You don't like making people suffer, do you? You always kill them quickly."

She raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? The way I positioned those explosive tags made it so they would suffer." Sasuke frowned.

"Surely several rocks falling on you and crushing your head or internal organs would kill you instantly, if not within a minute or two." He put his hands behind his head, leaning back slightly as he walked.

"No, I made it so the smaller rocks would fall, crushing only small parts of their body and causing internal bleeding, letting them suffer." She smirked. "If that isn't enough, for some of them the rocks would've fallen on their head, crushing it and causing the blood to splatter on their comrades. They would feel disgusted and traumatised at the feeling of their teammate's blood all over them." Sasuke watched her from the corner of his eye.

This girl could pass for being completely insane.


	3. Chapter 3

The two ninja walked for an hour, going through routes that were barely used, confusing themselves slightly as the where they were. Hinata obviously had a good sense of direction without her byakugan, knowing where she was and how far away her destination is without using it.

Reaching the mouth of a cave, the Hyuga stretched, revealing the tip of a tattoo. "Hyuga, you got a tattoo?" Sasuke raised his eyebrow, shock written all over his handsome face. She turned her head and glared at him. "Not out of choice, Uchiha."

She stepped into the cave, leaving the dark haired ninja to figure out how else she would have got a tattoo and why. The chance of it being a clan thing was slim; they only used the cursed seal mark.

"Oi, you coming in or what? If anyone spots us we have to move again." Hinata's voice travelled out of the cave, breaking Sasuke from his thoughts. Pushing the mystery to the back of his mind, he ducked into the narrow cave.

There were intricate markings scattered over the walls, ancient letters circling around pictures drawn by a skilled hand. Some were shaky, almost childish and yet others looked as though they'd been done by a professional artist.

Sasuke gazed at them, taking in the individual pictures. Many of them had the same girl with purple hair, the same letters around her. The only thing that changed was her expression. The first few had a happy expression, a mouth too big to be classed as human. The last one along the line had a shadow covering its face, a small piece of silver glinting in the light from outside. Someone had taken their time to insert that small piece into the wall, placing it so the sun hits it at a perfect angle.

He moved his gaze to the Hyuga sat in the corner, slouched against the wall. She looked exhausted, her body twitching every few seconds. "Something wrong, princess?" he tilted his head, assessing her. From the twitches, he could gather that her body was doing something a normal person's body shouldn't.

Though with that figure, you couldn't class Hinata Hyuga as normal.

She glared up at him from under her fringe, sweat sliding down her neck. "Nothing that is of concern." She panted, digging her nails into her palms and drawing blood. A sharp pain throbbed in her eye, causing her to lift up her hand and cradle it, smearing small bits of blood on the mask.

Sasuke approached her and crouched before her, lifting her chin up with his fingers. The look she gave him was full of hate, telling him to back off and let her deal with it herself. Ignoring it, he pried her fingers away from the mask and looked at it.

Before, he hadn't really paid it much attention, thinking that it was probably just the way the Hyuga dressed. Now that he looked at it, the mask hid something. Something she was ashamed of that hurt her. He tapped it gently with his finger. "What happened here?"

She slapped his hand away, looking down so a shadow covered most of her face. "Nothing of your business, Uchiha. Leave me alone."

Sasuke's curse mark began to prickle slightly, itching and irritating him. It had been a while since he'd felt this sensation, this annoying itching that could last for hours no matter how much the Uchiha tried to scratch at it, taking up layers of skin.

The last time he felt it was when he was with Juugo, another curse mark bearer.

As the realisation hit him, Sasuke's eyes widened and flicked up to the Hyuga's. There was no other explanation for the sensation in his mark. Orochimaru was dead, there's no chance of him being near. Juugo and his other team members have no clue that he was captured as far as he knew, they were probably somewhere in the mist hiding.

A smirk formed on his lips. "You have a curse mark, don't you princess?" She didn't answer, just turned her head and continued to grit her teeth. Moving his hand to her cheek, he cupped it and moved her head so she faced him. "You did something during the war, made a deal of some sort for power."

Hinata stayed silent, he could ask her as many questions as he wanted, torture her for weeks and she still wouldn't speak. It was a promise she made to herself, to not let anyone know about mistakes she'd made in a desperate attempt to grasp onto power, to feel what it's like to be feared and respected.

_"You'd sacrifice your own sanity to gain power?"  
"If it means I can protect my friends, yes."_

Her prayers had been heard, she'd been granted something she'd been wishing for since she was young, since she had been ridiculed. That chance was within her grasp and just as fast as she got hold of it, it slipped through her fingertips once again.

Her friends didn't appreciate what she did; they didn't acknowledge it at all. All she got out of it was a warped mind, a twisted sense of reason and a mark to prove that she had been desperate.

"Show me, Hyuga." Sasuke commanded, no amusing glint in his eyes anymore. Only the same look he had when looking at other people. Blank, emotionless and yet full of power. Hinata lowered her head and nodded, signalling to him that he can take the mask off.

Sasuke would be the first person to have seen this properly, to have had her permission to inspect her punishment.

His fingers brushed her skin as they slipped under her mask, lifting it to rest on the top of her head, pulling her fringe up with it.

The same white eye looked at him, except this had the curse mark in the centre. Black swirls danced under her eye and over the eyelids, reaching a certain distance before turning back.

This curse mark was different, a newly developed one.  
This one had replaced her old personality with a new one, one that Kabuto had designed for his own fun and games.

Inside the Hyuga's eye, sealed by Orochimaru's loyal servant, was the real Hinata Hyuga.


	4. Chapter 4

Hinata pulled away from him, lifting her hand to cover her eye once again. She seemed to be angry, angry at herself for letting him see something she promised herself that she wouldn't let anyone see. Turning her face away, she stared at the stones on the floor, counting each one.

"So that's what the bastard was developing." Sasuke muttered, his brows furrowing. Hinata's eyes shot to his for a brief second before returning to the stones, not uttering a single word.

He sighed and shuffled back until his back pressed against the wall. "How'd you get it?" he spoke to thin air. If the question had been asked to a group of people, it would undoubtedly cause a lot of confusion as Sasuke was looking at nothing when he said this.

He heard the Hyuga's body shift, dirt being embedded further into the ground. She sighed and lifted her hand away from her eye.

"To fulfil your desires, you must sacrifice something of great importance."  
The Uchiha shot her a confused look.  
"He said, 'I can give you your dreams, grant you your wishes at a small cost of one sacrifice.' Being as desperate as I was, I jumped on that offer."

Sasuke lifted up his legs and rested his arms in his knees, curiosity sparking within him. Although he hated to admit it, seeing other people's reactions to offers, tasks and problems interested him.

For some reason, this human interested him more than any other.

"I was kept in his room for months, tubes and wires attached to me, jutsu's being thrown at my body and going through eye surgery while still conscious." She paused and laughed. "If that's not enough to make anyone go insane, I must be very special."

She closed her eyes, a peaceful look taking over her features. "I was close to going completely nuts anyway. That just gave me a boost." Opening her eyes, they landed on the Uchiha, causing a frown to emerge on her face.

"I don't even know why I'm telling you this."

Silence took over once again, leaving the two dark haired ninja to their own thoughts. Sasuke had questions running through his head about what happened to her. He knew for a fact that Kabuto wasn't gentle with his experiments, he enjoyed torturing them and inflicting pain on other humans, watching them writhe about in pain and beg for their lives made him feel good about himself.

"Princess, I know I'm not a nice guy-"  
"Sasuke Uchiha states the obvious."

He glared at the white eyed girl who was currently fixing her mask to her face, ignoring the dirty look. Silence surrounded them once again. "I can help you cope with it." He blurted out, startling the Hyuga.

Her single eye narrowed, looking at him suspiciously.

"Why?"  
"Because I can."

She smirked at his answer, finding amusement in the way he tried to hide that he's actually a considerate person. He is human after all, no matter how cold hearted humans are they still feel the need to help others. Occasionally.

She moved her head to the mouth of the cave, taking in the last few minutes of sunlight. "Don't regret your decision later, Uchiha."

Sasuke closed his eyes and smiled to himself. "You too, princess."

Hinata stood, brushing dirt off the back of her trousers. Turning to the Uchiha, she crossed her arms. "I don't feel like spending the night in here." She stated, a look of determination in her pearl-coloured eye.

Sasuke sighed and lifted himself up, copying her earlier movements. "Find somewhere then." She raised her eyebrow at him, studying the tension that had set in his body. He began to step out of the cave when a small arm pressed against his chest.

"No one is going to let someone who's covered, well barely covered, and in ripped…clothes and blood." She pushed him back, almost making the Uchiha trip. This earned her a frown.

"Who wouldn't want to see an Uchiha with their body out?" he grinned, arrogance radiating out of him.

"Any sane person would pour acid in their eyes if they saw that."  
"Harsh words, princess."

Hinata shook her head and pulled a scroll out of a pouch she had clipped around her thigh. Unrolling it, she bit into her thumb and slid it across the paper, a puff of smoke erupting out of it.

Two piles of clothes lay on the floor, folded carefully. Sasuke almost laughed, the Hyuga was obviously a well prepared person. The housewife image didn't suit her.

Hinata picked up a pile of light purple and walked away into the dark corner, leaving only the bright white of her eye noticeable.

Sasuke groaned and began taking off the few clothes he had, slipping the fresh clothes over his sore skin. The various bruises and cuts didn't go unnoticed by the Hyuga in the corner. She kept a mental note to heal those properly in return for his help.

"You done staring yet, princess?" Sasuke sounded amused. Hinata just laughed and stepped out of the corner, bringing her full body into view.

A lilac yukata hugged her body, showing off her hourglass figure and generous chest. She had tied her hair up in a knot on her head, revealing a long slender neck. Her eye travelled up and down Sasuke's body, appraising her choice.

A black kimono with a red obi was loose on his body, making his skin look paler. He wasn't aware of the Uchiha symbol sewn onto the back, making it clear that he was proud of his clan and the last survivor.

"Why the fancy clothes?" his voice broke her from her assessment, irritating her. She was a complete perfectionist; if things didn't look the way she wanted then she'd re-do it. "To get into a fancy place, you have to wear fancy clothes."

"I got into a decent inn with Suigetsu wearing a potato sack…" Sasuke mumbled, the corners of his mouth turning upwards slightly at the memory. Hinata looked scared, she had only seen Suigetsu once and the thought of him in a potato sack was enough to give her nightmares.

"Whatever." She waved her hand in front of her and walked out of the cave, Sasuke following her like a puppy. The evening was cool, the breeze felt nice against his skin. After being holed up in that small room for years made him forget about how this felt.

"Hinata, how do we pay for two rooms when we have the bare minimum?" He looked up at the stars that were beginning to appear in the sky, twinkling the same way his mother's eyes used to.

"Oh no, how could I forget about that? I'm so stupid for not planning ahead." Hinata said in a monotone, her facial expression changing to a look of boredom.

Sasuke gave her one of his trademark glares before returning to looking at the stars. "We get one room, preferably a big one so I can sleep as far away from you as possible." She mumbled.

Sasuke leaned down to her ear. "If we got a small one, we could sleep together princess." He whispered. Hinata's elbow connected with his stomach, a smile set on her face for passers-by. Sasuke clutched his stomach, groaning every few steps.

"So cold, princess."


	5. Chapter 5

They paused in front of an inn, analysing it carefully. The windows had various clan symbols painted on them, a few that neither of the ninja had ever seen before. Above the door, a bell swung silently in the wind, the metal ball surrounded it decorated with butterflies.

"I don't like it, too feminine." Sasuke grunted, his lower lip sticking out slightly. Hinata had noticed that he tended to do this a lot, especially when he came across something he didn't understand.

"I don't like travelling with people who complain more than a parent." Hinata shot the frowning Uchiha a smirk, inwardly praising herself.

"I don't like travelling with stuck up female Hyuga's."  
"I don't like you."

Sasuke turned his head away and crossed his arms, not bothering to respond to her. The door to the inn opened to reveal a girl about their age. Pale green hair flowed down her back, purple eyes looking surprised at the two stood outside, one stropping like a small child and one that looked proud of themselves.

Hinata noticed the girl and smiled innocently, attempting to reassure her that they were normal people.

To the green-haired girl, they seemed far from normal.  
The woman had dark hair tied up in a bun on her head, showing off her neck and oval face. One side of her face was covered by a mask, the other side had a single white eye.

The man had hair that resembled the back end of a duck, his skin almost as pale as the woman's eye and black eyes. He was dressed in traditional Japanese clothing, making him look out of place. Most people wore "ninja" clothing.

"Can I help you?" She asked. Her voice was high pitched and almost silent, sounding like a small child. Hinata let the smile fall and pointed to the man standing next to her. "We'd like a room…do you work here?"

A smile replaced the wary look, the girl suddenly became more upbeat. "Yes, of course. Come right in. Is it just one room?" she chatted away whilst holding the door open for them. Hinata nodded and smiled, if Sasuke hadn't noticed the tension in her shoulders he would've thought she'd gone back to being her old self.

Sasuke just grunted, barely acknowledging the girl. She led them through a door, walking across a small courtyard to a small house. "It's not that big, as you can probably tell, but it's got high quality furniture. Meals are served all day and until midnight." She turned to them once they reached the door. "I hope you have a nice stay."

"You forgot something." Sasuke muttered.  
"Eh, what?" A look of surprise crossed on the girl's face.

"You forgot to tell us how much this is going to cost." He closed his eyes, annoyance sweeping across his face. Sasuke couldn't tolerate people who forgot things, who didn't inform people.

A grin appeared on her lips. "I'll let you guys use it for half the price we'd charge other customers." She winked. Hinata shrugged this off and moved around the girl, sliding open the door to the miniature house and stepping inside.

Plain white walls almost blinded her, small paintings hung at a slight angle. In the centre of the room was a small table surrounded by mats, candles with flowers wrapped around them sat in the middle. A large window allowed light to flood the room, the reflection bouncing off the paintings.

It was a plain room, nothing too interesting about it.  
Hinata liked it.

The girl bowed at Sasuke before scurrying off in the direction they had come from, muttering something about having an appointment. Sasuke stepped in behind Hinata, sliding the door closed and slipping his sandals off.

His reaction was the same as Hinata's. Just like her, he liked plain things. Plain things could be ruined, turned into something full of colours and life. Yet, plain things also seemed to be secretive, not allowing you to see what it really wants, what it could potentially be.

The Hyuga staggered over to the table, eyeing it before letting her body fall on top of it. She looked exhausted, those few minutes of fake smiling seemed to last for hours. It had been years since she had to do that.

Sasuke smirked at her and crouched down before her face, a mischievous glint in his dark eyes. "Something wrong, Hyuga?" he tilted is head slightly, his smirk widening at the glare she gave him.

Lazily reaching up with one hand, she tugged on some of his hair. An idea popped into her head.

"You like your hair, Uchiha?"  
"It's just hair."

A grin formed on her lips, "well then I guess you won't mind if I just accidently cut it all off." Lifting herself up on one elbow, she slipped a kunai from her sleeve into her palm. She was about to slice when the Uchiha was on top of her, pinning her hands above her head.

The grin was replaced with shock. Hinata had known Sasuke was fast, she had seen him in action many times before. When watching other people fight against him, you could just about follow his movements with your eyes. However, when on the receiving end it seemed as though he moved faster than light.

He leaned down towards her ear, wisps of his hair brushed against her cheek and nose. "I don't think being bald really suits me." He whispered, smirking against her ear. She tensed, realising how vulnerable she was.

Usually, she never let her guard down. In the back of her mind, she was always prepared, hiding weapons in the least obvious of places. Always trying to sense threats or anticipate people's moves.

In her small moment of silence after putting up a front, she had let that guard down. Irritating the Uchiha was amusing, yet now it caused her problems. She allowed her mind to be side tracked, thinking of different ways to push Sasuke until he finally broke and she was allowed to see him, full of rage.

Sasuke lifted her head up and studied her expression. If she had been any other female, for example the loud-mouthed blonde, Ino, she would be furiously blushing or trying to take her chance and kiss him.

However, she was not Ino. She was a more interesting person, someone who always managed to catch his attention with her similarities to him. Yet all their similarities were different, in a way that can't be explained. He felt like he could somehow relate to the Hyuga, relate to every emotion she let slip in her eyes.

Right now, her eyes portrayed anger and disappointment. She obviously didn't like being at a disadvantage and vulnerability was one of her pet hates. Noting this down in his head, Sasuke lifted himself up off the ground. Her eyes followed him, though her attention was elsewhere.

Sasuke also decided that that white eye would haunt him, the eye that peered into his soul and read everything about him. It reflected knowledge and power, backed up by every emotion the Hyuga felt.

She surprised him by pulling him down and swapping their positions, except she had a kunai against his throat. His eyes widened, sharingan automatically activating. Hinata wasn't stupid enough to look in his eyes, so instead she copied his earlier action of leaning in against his ear.

"I don't like being at a disadvantage, Uchiha. Keep that in mind next time you try to pin me down. I won't hesitate to kill you." Even though her voice was calm, he could sense the threat behind it.

No, it was not a threat,  
It seemed more like a promise.

He nodded slightly, Hinata's lips curved into a sinister smile. Moving the kunai to his face, she trailed it down his cheek, leaving a small cut that seemed to bleed quite a bit. She lifted her head slightly, positioning her mouth at where she'd just cut.

Sasuke froze completely, not even blinking. His heart rate increased, sweat began to drip off the back of his neck. The Hyuga seemed to trigger fear in him, made him want to run away and hide, cowering away in the dark corners of the earth.

The tip of her tongue slid up the cut, taking up blood with it. She put it back in her mouth, licking her lips after. "I'm glad we have an understanding." She lifted herself off him and stood, walking away to the window to gaze at the stars spreading on the inky sky.

The girl observed from behind a tree, watching every movement the two made. It didn't take a genius to work out that one was Sasuke Uchiha and the other Hinata Hyuga, the heiress who had her mind pushed until she finally snapped, allowing insanity to consume her being.

The fact she was travelling with Sasuke meant that the leaf had been attacked and they'd decided to escape during the chaos, accidently meeting up with each other.  
Or they left the village together, Hinata releasing Sasuke and allowing him freedom.

If she had done that, though, then why was the Uchiha still with her? Surely he'd run, find his old team and work on letting his anger out on someone. She frowned, seeing Sasuke pin the Hyuga to the floor.

She could not hear the words they were saying, but if you were merely a passing stranger, one of the ones who always look into others houses, then you would probably just brush this sight off as a sexual thing and carried on walking, thinking about what you were going to do when you get home.

She, however, was not a passing stranger. She was a stalker.  
She shook her head.  
No, stalker isn't the right word.

Observer.

Her eyes followed his movements, watching as Hinata flipped their positions and copied his earlier ministrations, except this time Hinata cut him. The 'Observer' narrowed her eyes, focusing on the place that Hinata had just marked. Hinata's tongue trailed on it, a smile on her lips.

That was, quite frankly, one of the strangest things she'd seen. Looking at Hinata, you see an innocent young woman who's been put through pain and pushed far beyond her own limits.

Now, Hinata seemed even more insane than people claimed she was.

Allowing herself to trail off into her own thoughts, she never noticed Hinata staring right back at her, a deadly glint in her eye.

"Sasuke, we have an admirer." She drawled out, leaning against the wall next to the window. Hinata had sensed her a long time ago, hence why she decided to lick the blood off Sasuke's cheek.

She wanted the girl to think she was completely crazy and to be unsure about her.

Sasuke sat up and looked up at Hinata, taking in her facial expression.  
She looked the same way he did, bloodlust radiating off her and desperation to kill.

He lifted himself up, making the action look completely effortless and padded over to the window, standing next to Hinata.

"I don't see anyone."  
"That's because they're hiding behind that sakura tree."

Sasuke frowned and focused. Surely enough, small green hairs poked out from the side of the trunk. The corner of a purple eye stared at him. She hadn't realised she'd been caught. Sasuke smirked and turned his head to Hinata.

"I vote that we let her watch and see if she does anything."

Hinata shrugged, "do what you want." Sasuke moved his eyes to the tree; a whole purple eye could be seen now.

Hinata looked like a doll, her long hair spread across the floor like branches and her yukata slipping down her shoulder slightly, a pale leg peeked through the slit in the material.

The Observer stared at her, watching her chest rise and fall slowly, looking as though she couldn't hurt anyone. She still slept with the mask covering her eye.

She moved her attention to the sleeping Uchiha. The moonlight only hit one side of his face, casting a shadow on the other side. His facial expression often switched between sadness and anger, allowing his hidden thoughts to be exposed.

She didn't care, though. She was only there to do one job.

Pulling a kunai out of her trouser pocket, she leaned over Sasuke, positioning the kunai at the centre of his throat before lifting it.

"I'm sorry." She whispered and took a deep breath. She lifted her arms above her head and was about to strike when a shuriken penetrated her thigh, sticking in her muscle and flesh.

She abruptly turned her head to see Sasuke spinning another shuriken on his finger, Hinata stood next to him. Both had a smirk on their face, predatory looks in their eyes. She was about to run when Hinata appeared in front of her, cupping both cheeks.

Leaning in, her eyes narrowed. "Not so fast now." The girl began to tremble, her knees feeling weak. Hinata's smirk turned into a grin, revealing several perfect white teeth.

"We haven't played our game yet." Hinata whispered. Laughing softly, her eye turned into a sharingan, blood leaking out. Her mask fell from her left eye, revealing a black hole.

Her face began to fall, bits of flesh falling and blood trailing down her skull. The skull grinned, spiders crawling out from in between teeth and scuttling over the observer.

She desperately wanted to move, to run but she couldn't, her body had frozen with fear. Behind Hinata, her family swayed over, their arms going limp and falling, the flesh rotting on the floor. With grins on their faces, they began to pull at their face, ripping the skin off and letting it fall.

She screamed, tears streaming down her face. Then, she lost consciousness, the faces still engraved in her mind.

Sasuke and Hinata watched, the same way the girl had a few hours ago. The eyes they were reliant on took in the girls frozen expression and trembling until finally she was unable to stand and fell, hitting her head on the corner of the table.

"Who knew having you around could be so useful, Uchiha."  
"I had no idea that a Hyuga could be so cruel." Sasuke smirked at Hinata. She nodded and made her way to the girl, flipping her body over.

A large cut was on her forehead, blood covering parts of her face. Hinata sighed. "That's going to leave a mark." She dipped her forefinger in some of the blood and observed it, looking at it as though it was an undiscovered item.

"Oi, Sasuke." Her voice was just over a whisper. Hinata's eyes stayed on the blood, listening to Sasuke's footsteps approaching and the rustling of material as he knelt beside her.

She put her finger in front of his nose. "What does it smell like?" she asked. Sasuke frowned and smelt it, pausing for a second. "It smells like blood." He said, looking at Hinata's look of disappointment.

"What type of blood?"  
"I don't know, blood?"

Hinata pulled her finger away and put it in her mouth, her brows furrowing. Then, her eye lit up and a smile similar to a child's. "No Sasuke, it's not ordinary blood." She crawled closer to him and looked up to him.

"Her blood was special, Uchiha. Very special." Her smile turned sinister, delight still dancing in her eyes. Sasuke still frowned at her, the Hyuga seemed stranger than before.

"She was from a clan that was meant to have died out years ago. One that nobody had heard about" Her slightly lilac eye was now completely white, looking as though she had no irises at all. "They were forbidden to hear about. She's old, very very old."

Sasuke felt the same fear he felt when he had been under Hinata, the blood in his veins felt like they turned to ice.

"The Ningyo clan, the clan that were forgotten." She whispered, just as the girl rose up, her eyes black and a smile on her face.

"Time to play my game."


	6. Chapter 6

Hinata slowly stood, her arms and head slightly limp and her legs trembling. The now completely white eyes stared at him, the wide curve on her lips being embedded into his mind. Behind her, the Ningyo clan survivor began to hum, her fingers twitching.

Activating his mangekyou, Sasuke noticed the chakra string attached to Hinata's mind. He frowned, trying to work out where he had seen a diagram of this jutsu. His attention was diverted back to Hinata. "Sa-su-ke." She sang, giggling afterwards.

Both the female's hands formed the Ram sign, their eyes narrowing as the smile on their lips grew wider. The air in the room began to feel dense, making Sasuke find it difficult to breathe. Not showing them that he was struggling, he kept his face emotionless.

The girl seemed agitated by this and frowned, Hinata's face copying hers exactly. Small wisps of white light twirled out of Hinata's chest, blood dripping from the spots it came out of.

Sasuke began to grind his teeth, formulating a plan of action in his head. Hinata had taken him from that dungeon; she had given him another chance to carry out his plans. Sasuke couldn't just leave her behind and let this jutsu destroy her body. Not when he'd said he'd help her.

Hinata's hand reached under her yukata, hooking a kunai onto her finger and sliding it out. She took her time, dragging out every individual movement. Smirking, she cut her leg in a way that was similar to how she'd cut Sasuke's face earlier, merely dragging it across her skin yet applying enough pressure to make a few beads of blood escape.

Lifting the kunai to her mouth, she never broke eye contact with Sasuke. Hinata brought it to her mouth and licked the small amount of blood off the pointed tip, a look of pleasure washing over her face.

Behind her, the girl looked pleased. She thought she had Sasuke wrapped around her little finger, that she could kill him at any moment. She thought she had power, the perfect plan to finally be rid of the Uchiha.

Lightning crackled around Sasuke's fist, illuminating the whole room. The girl moved her eyes up to his red ones, an amused look in her eyes.

"That won't hurt me, Uchiha. If you even try to hit me with it, I'll move-" her words were cut off as she felt something go through her chest, hitting the centre of her heart. Coughing out blood, she looked down at her chest, only to see nothing there.

Her eyes widened, confusion hit her. Lifting her head, she saw Sasuke holding Hinata in his arms, a bored expression on his handsome face. She went to speak but found herself unable to as whenever she opened her mouth, blood poured out.

Sasuke smirked. "I had hoped that you'd be a bit more fun. I guess the Ningyo clan were not as strong as they say they are."

Rage flared up in her stomach, bubbling. She wanted to scream at him, kill him and tell him that her clan were strong, but the blood just kept on dribbling out the corners of her mouth.

The smirk on his face widened before he waved at her and disappeared, the only sign of him being there was the smell of lightning. Now that he had gone, she allowed herself to fall to the floor.

She would not die, no. She could not die. After all, the Ningyo clan were feared for one reason. That reason, the secret that was hidden from everyone, was that they themselves were dolls.

And dolls do not die.

Sasuke landed deep in the forest, where almost nothing lurks and light dares not filter through the leaves. The whole place is cast in shadows, day or night. Seasons do not change here, only the shadows bending.

He dropped Hinata onto the ground with a loud thud, smirking inwardly at the annoyed expression on her features. She propped herself up on her elbows and glared at him, her back now throbbing.

"That hurt, Uchiha."  
"You were heavy, my hands slipped."

Hinata groaned and rolled on her stomach, a smirk playing on her lips. Sasuke tilted his head slightly, giving her his signature frown. Hinata chuckled slightly before rolling onto her back again and letting her arm flop over her eyes, sleep beginning to consume her. "I wouldn't sleep, princess. There are things here that wouldn't even hesitate to eat you." Sasuke muttered, pulling apart a dry leaf that had floated onto his head.

He watched as Hinata blatantly ignored what he said, her chest rising and falling slowly. Sasuke sighed. "This girl is going to kill me." He muttered, standing and brushing the dirt and leaves that had stuck to him. Activating his sharingan, he looked at his surroundings ad at every single leaf and bug that was crawling around.

He was sure it was around here somewhere, it had to be. This place was so familiar; Sasuke never forgot places where he'd been. Hinata began to move about, rustling leaves and distracting him from his concentration. He snapped his head in her direction, only to find a snake trying to wrap itself around her neck.

Growling, Sasuke unsheathed his katana and cut the snake in half, getting blood all over Hinata's yukata. Sasuke winced inwardly and hoped that she wasn't one of those girls that cried over breaking their nails or spilling some sort of liquid or food on their clothes.

Actually, he didn't need to hope. He knew she wasn't. She seemed like the kind of girl who'd get their hands dirty if they could, the type that doesn't care about rolling in mud or being a messy eater.

He smirked at the thought of Hinata rolling about in mud, oinking and squealing like that annoying pig of Tsunade's, Tonton. A finger poked his forehead and he blinked, the first thought being that Itachi had miraculously come back from the dead to poke him in the forehead, declare his undying brotherly love and disappear again, leaving Sasuke alone and empty once more.

Hinata was sat staring at him, her hand still raised slightly. Confusion was all over her face, quickly turning into a smirk. "You were staring, Uchiha." She drawled out, grabbing his arm and pulling him down. "It's rude to stare." She grinned. Sasuke pushed her down and leaned over her, watching as her eyes widened.

"If you saw me staring, princess, you must have also been staring." He murmured, leaning in closer to her. The grin that had disappeared crawled back slightly. Sasuke leaned in even closer seeing this, observing how she became uncomfortable and she seemed nervous, a light blush staining her cheeks. Old habits would never go away.

"Like what you see, princess?" he whispered, lowering his mouth to her ear. "You seem to be staring at me a lot too." Hinata's hand cupped his cheek and moved his head so he could face her again. She smiled and then head butted him, making Sasuke fall backwards clutching his face.

"Bitch." He bit out, a small pool of blood collecting in his hands from his nose. Hinata sat up again, looking quite pleased with herself. Sasuke glared at her through a gap in between his fingers, making a note to himself to get her back.

Hinata went to rub the front of her chest when her fingers touched something wet. Lifting them away, she saw blood coating them. "Sasuke, why is there blood on me?"

Sasuke removed his hands, blood still trickling from his nose, and smiled. "A snake was going to strangle you. I killed it." Her face contracted into a look of disgust at the thought of a snake being on her. When she was younger, she didn't really mind snakes but after the war, they became something she loathed.

Sasuke blinked at the face she was pulling. He had never seen a Hyuga pull a face like that. People occasionally give him a look that held a slight bit of disgust, but a lot of it was mostly pity or hatred. A chuckle escaped his lips, making Hinata jump.

She whipped a kunai out from under her yukata and grinned. "Something funny Uchi-" she let out a cry and the kunai slipped from her fingers, her hands moving to her left eye. Her body began to twitch slightly, her breathing becoming heavier. "Shit." She murmured, letting out another cry filled with pain.

Sasuke crawled over and watched with his sharingan as the chakra from the curse seal began to expand and retract under the mask. Sometimes it would surge forward, resulting in Hinata screaming. He swiftly moved her hand and mask away, gripping onto her wrists.

"You need to stop, Hinata." He commanded, being forced to hold onto her tighter to stop her from clawing away at her eye. Sweat dripped down her forehead, her cheeks heating up. Hinata hated this, she felt embarrassed. She shouldn't have to have someone there to watch her and help her with something that was her own problem.

It was her own fault anyway, why should someone else care and deal with it? Why should she let others interfere with something that has nothing to do with them?

Still, Hinata did not push him away. She did not try to fight him off and shout at him, letting all her pent up anger out on him. If anything, she felt some sort of connection to the Uchiha. He had suffered in the same way she had, he knew how much it hurt to have a foreign chakra invade your body and take over. He knows how hard it is to control it.

That is why.

Blood poured out of Hinata's eye, falling in large droplets onto the forest floor and being absorbed into the soil. Sasuke frowned and looked in closer at it. It shouldn't bleed. At least, he didn't think it should. He'd read Orochimaru's books and scrolls on this jutsu and none of them mentioned bleeding.

His frown changed into a look of surprise. The eyeball itself was turning black, the iris flashing red occasionally. This was almost like…

No, it was not like his sharingan. It was something different, something more powerful. He could feel it himself. Throughout his childhood he'd been surrounded by strong Uchiha's, none of them gave off an aura of power like Hinata's eye was now.

Hell, he'd even spent time with Madara. Madara didn't feel this powerful, not even half. And that scared Sasuke. It scared him to think that he'd misjudged Hinata, mistaken her for someone who was weak and trying to just run away from her problems, hiding and cowering.

She wasn't, she was one of those strong people that others didn't appreciate, one of the ones who would sacrifice themselves to save someone else. Some might say that that is foolish and that person is running away, but it takes a lot to sacrifice something, something you love and cherish.

Here she was, putting up with the pain of the cursed seal without complaining, only letting out whimpers, cries or screams. But not a word of complaint came out of her mouth. She was pushed around by her family, used by her friends and still she did not complain.

Her cries subsided to whimpers, the blood drying on her cheeks. Gradually, her breathing slowed and Sasuke let go of her wrist, frowning at the red finger marks left. Hinata coughed, drawing his eyes to her face.

She looked around the forest, a slight pink staining her cheeks. "U-um…Thanks." She muttered, a small pout forming on her lips. Sasuke blinked twice, unsure of what to say, before he began to laugh. The sound echoed through the forest, bouncing off tree trunks and alerting every living thing in the forest that the Sasuke Uchiha was laughing.

Hinata looked at him in pure shock and embarrassment. She had just thanked him and he laughs in her face. The way he was laughing shocked her too. He sounded happy, laughing like small children do when watching puppet shows.

"Sorry, sorry." He spluttered, waving his hand in front of his face. "I just didn't know you could make a face like that." He chuckled softly now.  
"Like what?" Hinata crossed her arms.  
"Like…" Sasuke stuck his lips out in a full pout and batted his eyelashes at her. Hinata's hand connected with his cheek and the sound of a slap rang out.

Sasuke cupped his cheek and smirked. Even though he was acting like this, he was glad to see that Hinata was okay. After she slapped him she had turned away from him, looking out into the trees and moving her head up to look at the canopy of leaves that sheltered them from the outside world.

They were both silent, just staring. Not even a slight breeze rustled the leaves in these parts, so all was completely silent. "Princess, can I ask you one question?" he broke the silence, leaning back on his hands.  
"What?" Hinata snapped, not making any attempt to look at him.  
"Why did you leave? Were you running or did you feel like you had other things you could achieve? Things that Konoha couldn't give you."

Hinata's body stiffened slightly. Why was he asking this?

"Didn't you once say that you suffer because of your ties?" she murmured, not taking her eyes off a single leaf that was hanging from a branch of an oak tree, threatening to fall and break away at any point.

"That I did."  
"I'm fed up of suffering for people who don't care, who think I'm weak. Those types of ties are pitiful, that's why I'm cutting them." She moved her forefinger a slight bit, sending chakra through the air and slicing through the small stem on the leaf, causing it to float gently to the ground and blend in with the other leaves that had fallen.


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm not that good at writing fight scenes so I'm sorry if this sucks**

* * *

Sasuke felt confused once again. He had only ever said those words to Naruto, only screamed them at him in a fit of rage. Hinata shouldn't know those words. No one else should as Naruto refused to go into details about their fight to others, only giving them the briefest explanation.

He also doubted that Naruto could remember the conversation.  
Or what happened.

Hinata was either there or had somehow got Naruto to speak of it. There was no other logical answer.

He turned his head to the Hyuga who was sat with her head tilted up and her hand outstretched, revealing dainty fingers that looked like porcelain stained with blood. Her curse mark had stopped pulsating and was still, allowing the black markings to return to the seal.

The small amounts of moonlight that filtered through the trees illuminating her features. As much as he hated to admit it, he did think Hinata was attractive. Unlike Sakura, even though she was insane, she spoke softly instead of screaming in your face and hitting you with every opportunity she got. Unlike Ino, she wasn't obvious with her wants. She could deceive the most observant of people, making them believe every word she told them.

She was almost like a living genjutsu; someone who created an illusion for every individual person. Hinata knew everyone's weaknesses and could use them against them without them even realising. She could be smiling sweetly at you and planning to kill you.

Sasuke came to a conclusion:  
Hinata Hyuga is a scary person.

A twig snapping in the distance broke his train of thought. Hinata's body went rigid as she moved her eyes around the area. She had always relied on her byakugan, activating it at any point she could.

Doing this had exhausted them. Her vision was still better than the average persons but pushing chakra to her eyes hurt. It was like a burning sensation followed by throbbing. The curse seal didn't help. As soon as she tried to use her byakugan, it began to try to branch out and absorb her chakra.

She had tried to learn how to fight without using it with Shino and Kiba, spending hours at the training grounds. Neither of those two were strong enough for her, though. Their techniques seemed absurd to Hinata.

Of course, with her being a Hyuga, she kept trying until she could fight to an acceptable standard. Still using her gentle fist, she had adapted other techniques to fit into it. She had spent weeks memorising where the main chakra points are without having to look with her byakugan.

She was determined and never once gave up, no matter how exhausting the task was.

A bush rustled behind them and a shadow quickly approached Sasuke. Hinata jumped in front of the figure just in time to get a glimpse of red hair before her palm connected with the human's chest, sending them flying through trees.

Sasuke blinked twice.  
There was no way…

"Yo, Sasuke." Suigetsu's voice rang out from in between some trees, his body eventually following. When his eyes landed on Hinata, they narrowed slightly. "A female. I thought you didn't like them, Sasuke?"

Sasuke scoffed before turning his attention back to the Hyuga female, meeting her eyes. Sasuke nodded once and she sat, analysing Suigetsu. He grinned at her.

To him, Hinata looked like someone out of a dream. Her dark purple hair tied on top of her head with strands falling, a white eye and another with the curse seal on and wearing a blood stained kimono. Unknowing to her, it had come undone slightly revealing her cleavage.

"A pretty female." He whistled. "Karin's going to go mad."  
Hinata frowned. She had heard that name before; Ino's father had mentioned it a while ago. Sasuke groaned behind her, putting his hand in his hair.

Before he knew it, he'd been pinned down by Hinata, a smirk gracing her lips. "You don't argue his statement, Uchiha." Her tone was playful. He smirked back at her.  
"Of course not, Hinata. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."  
"I wasn't aware that we were using first names." She murmured in his ear, retreating and dragging her lips across his cheek.  
"Well-"

Chakra flared up next to Suigetsu. Both ninjas turned their heads to see a shaking Karin. "What are you doing to my Sasuke?" she spat. Hinata looked confused for a moment, but that confusion was quickly replaced with a smile that Sasuke had seen many times in the short journey he'd had with her. A smile that told him that she was going to do something mischievous.

"Your Sasuke?" she moved her head to his neck, making it look as though she was kissing it. Sasuke closed his eyes and played along. Karin growled.  
"Get your hands off my Sasuke."

Hinata lifted her face from his neck and leaned closer to his mouth, her gaze locked on Karin's, watching with amusement as the girl's face turned red. "Make me." She whispered before brushing her lips against Sasuke's, making him snap his eyes open.

Karin charged at Hinata, her grip firm on a kunai. "I'm gonna kill you!" she screamed. Hinata sat up and watched the red head run at her. "Too easy." She murmured. Karin was inches away from hitting Hinata with her kunai when she felt a blade against her throat. "Easy, little one. Someone might get hurt if you do that." She whispered in her ear. Karin cried out in rage and span out, trying to cut Hinata with the Kunai. She simply laughed and jumped back, her own Kunai in her hand.

"Show me what you've got." Hinata grinned, finding amusement in the hatred that the red head had for her. Karin pushed up her glasses and jumped to meet Hinata. She dropped her kunai to the ground and watched the red head's oncoming form.

Hinata simply put her left palm out and tapped Karin's shoulder, blocking off the chakra point. With her right hand, she hit Karin's knee. Karin winced but did not stop. Hinata stepped back slightly and let the Uzumaki land right in front of her.

A grin spread across Hinata's mouth. Karin realised the mistake she'd made and went to take a step back. However, Hinata was too fast. She lifted one of her slender legs and kicked Karin in the stomach, sending her flying for a second time.

Karin's back connected with the tree trunk, a mouthful of blood being spat out. Her body slumped to the floor, unconscious and bruises forming under her clothes.

Suigetsu clapped and laughed. He already liked Sasuke's companion. Sasuke looked pleased. Hinata tilted her head right back to look at Sasuke, a predatory look in her eyes. "Can I cut her up a bit?"

Sasuke shook his head. "The girl's covered in enough marks already." Hinata puffed her cheeks out and pouted; annoyed that Sasuke wouldn't let her. He lifted his leg up and rested his arm on his knee. "Plus, isn't it more fun to do it whilst they're alive?"

Hinata smirked at him before spinning on her heel to look at Suigetsu. "I would cut you up but you can change into water and that's no fun." Her voice was low, her disappointment showing in her eyes.

Suigetsu crossed his arms and looked at Karin, a small part of him feeling upset that she was still so weak. And she still harboured feelings for the Uchiha. Even though he hated to admit it and denied it all the time, he actually liked Karin a lot.

"I think you should change your clothes, princess. Suigetsu got a bit excited when he first saw you." Sasuke drawled, picking at a blade of grass. Hinata sighed.  
"I guess you're right, animal blood isn't as nice as human blood."

Pulling a scroll out from a hidden belt wrapped around her thigh, biting her thumb and wiping blood across it. Smoke surrounded her and crawled away, rising to the top of the trees.

Her blood stained kimono was replaced by bandages wrapped around her breasts and a black scarf that reached the floor wrapped around her neck and wound around her arms. A snake tattoo covered the whole of her back, the tip of its tongue reaching her neck. Her right hand was covered with a fingerless black glove.

Leather shorts hung onto the tops of her thighs like a second skin. Below were knee high black socks and sandals. Sasuke deducted one thing from this outfit; Hinata Hyuga had a nice body.

Suigetsu's eyes nearly popped out his skull when he saw what she was wearing. Blood trickled out of his nose. He thought Karin revealed a lot but the Hyuga made her shorts look long.

Sasuke said nothing, his face remaining impassive. He just picked at more and more blades of grass. Hinata paid no attention to the two males as she unclipped her hair, letting the purple waves fall, her eyes fixated on the Uzumaki.

When she woke, Hinata was going to have more fun with her.


	8. Chapter 8

Hinata watched as Karin began to wake, her slightly chubby fingers twitching. Suigetsu had sat next to her against the tree, his eyes quickly glancing at her form every few minutes.

Sasuke smirked, making a note to use his affection for Karin in the future. He felt Hinata shift next to him and turned his head slightly. She wore a small smile, most of her face covered by her indigo hair.

"You want her to leave you alone, right?" she muttered, flicking her gaze to Karin before returning her eyes to look at Sasuke's. He nodded, understanding what she was getting at.

"I'll help you in return for something else."  
"I'm not going treasure hunting with you, princess."

Hinata looked insulted as she poked Sasuke in the eye. "I'm not a pirate, Uchiha. But seeing as you don't want to do your part of the deal, I'll tell your dearest Karin that you love her and you want to plan the we-"

Sasuke put his hand over his mouth. "Hai, hai. What's this something else?" Hinata licked the palm of his hand, smirking. He snatched his hand back and wiped it on the grass, a look of disgust on his handsome features.

"You help me find the secret Hyuga scroll," she traced his jawline with the tip of her finger and turned his chin to look at her, leaning in closer than she needed to. "And I'll get rid of your little problem."

Sasuke contemplated his decision. If he took up Hinata's offer, he'd have to travel more with her and therefore his own plans would be put on hold.

Or he could put up with a clingy Karin hanging onto his every word and batting her eyelashes every time he glared at her for being in his way.

He sighed. "Fine. I'll look for this scroll if you help me with…her." Hinata grinned and leaned into his ear, her lips moving almost silent words.

Karin awoke, the first thing she saw was Hinata whispering in Sasuke's ear wearing quite revealing clothing. Instantly, her face flushed with anger and jealousy crawled up from the pit of her stomach.

"W-what are you doing to Sasuke?" Karin spluttered, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Sasuke caught her eye and smirked, the smirk that made her fangirl heart skip a beat.

"Is there something wrong with her being close to her lover?" he snaked his arm around Hinata's shoulders and pulled her closer to him, holding her against his chest.

Karin opened and closed her mouth, trying to form words. She didn't know what to say, she didn't know what to believe. Should she accept that these two were apparently dating or should she deny it for the sake of her own heart?

"I don't believe you." She crossed her arms and glared at the Hyuga tucked into Sasuke, her face buried into his chest with a content look on her face.

He raised an eyebrow at Karin, inwardly groaning. If this plan didn't work he'd still have Karin clinging onto him and a Hyuga on his back.

"Prove it. Prove to me that you two are…" her voice trailed off, her expression faltering slightly. Sasuke shrugged his shoulders slightly as he lifted Hinata's chin with his forefinger slightly.

She nodded, a gesture so small that only Sasuke would notice it. His problems didn't really matter to her, but she'd rather not have the Uzumaki trailing after them when she was trying to find a scroll that was of great importance.

He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers, his eyelids drooping slightly. Hinata closed her eyes and faked an expression of pleasure just to irritate Karin even more.

Faking put aside, the Hyuga had to admit that the Uchiha was a good kisser. He didn't press too hard nor did he only barely touch her lips, too shy to make the contact like an 11 year old during a dare.

Karin dug her nails into her palm, creating little crescent moon marks. She bit down on her lip until blood seeped out, crawling down her chin and onto her pale thighs.

Hinata smelt the blood and turned her head, breaking the kiss. The look of a hidden insanity hid in the Hyuga's eyes brought out fear in Karin.

Her pale eye had shrunk, a small smile on her plump lips. Her cat like tongue dragged across her top lip. Karin lifted her fingers to wipe it away, freezing when Hinata's fingers wrapped around her wrist.

Hinata leaned in close to the blood and inhaled, an honest look of pleasure washing over her face. "This is strong blood, good blood." She whispered. Her tongue darted out and caught a droplet of the blood, her eyes flashing red for a brief second. "Nice blood." She muttered under her breath.

Suigetsu watched, his throat tight. He'd only ever seen Juugo act like this. The one time he'd completely lost control and went on a killing spree, smiling at the sight of blood and looking like a small child during Christmas.

But this was different; the Hyuga's insanity was stronger and deeper than that. This girl had been through pain that he could not begin to imagine. She'd seen things and has experiences that she should never had.

He could see that her body was replete with pain, her whole being crying out for help. Just like Sasuke's.

His eyes moved to Sasuke, the raven haired man resting his arm on his raised knee with a look of interest and amusement on his face.

"Hinata" he moved slightly. Hinata turned to him, a look of annoyance on her face. He smirked and held up his blood stained forefinger. Her face lit up and she scrambled to him, looking up at him like a lost puppy.

Instead of giving her what she wanted, he lifted her hair and slid off the mask resting over her eye. The curse seal had expanded further now, small black snakes reaching the bridge of her nose.

A frown crossed his features as he inspected, tilting her chin. She growled at him, the look of annoyance returning. He smirked and flicked her forehead.

"Stop it." He commanded, taking in the look of confusion on her face. She didn't reply, nor did she stop completely. She simply snatched her mask back and placed it where it belonged, pouting at him and shuffling away.

Her eyes locked on his forefinger again, the look and smell of the blood being too much. She needed it. Of course she had no idea why, she just had a strong urge to taste his blood.

Sasuke caught onto this and lifted his finger to his lips, licking the blood off. His gaze never left Hinata's; he wanted to see how her expressions changed. Her obsession with blood intrigued him.

Her lips parted slightly as she watched, her cheeks darkening slightly. She was annoyed that she hadn't got to taste it, to feel the power that came with Uchiha blood. However, seeing someone else copy her struck up strange feelings in the pit of her stomach.

Karin and Suigetsu watched Sasuke tease Hinata, shock running through both of them. They'd seen Sasuke act similar to this around females when he desperately needed information, but they'd never seen the look in his eyes.

Every time his eyes landed on Hinata, many emotions appeared. Interest, fear, amazement and a slight bit of lust. Sasuke was genuinely attracted to the Hyuga female whether or not her behaviour was strange and her mind twisted.

Karin smiled. "So that's the kind of girl Sasuke likes." She whispered to herself. She stood up and took her glasses off, a look of hope glittering in her eyes. "I can do that!"

She scurried over to Sasuke and sat on her knees in front of him. He dragged his eyes to her, his face and eyes becoming void of emotion once again. Karin slipped her tongue past her lips and licked at the newly dried blood.

Sasuke looked disgusted. She looked like Orochimaru when she did that. He had a habit of dropping food down his chin and would always rid of it that way.

She reached out and began to trace his jawline. A vein popped out slightly on Sasuke's forehead, he clenched his fists. Karin's touch felt like being pricked by a thorn.

She was about to trace his bottom lip when Hinata pounced on her, straddling her with a kunai pressed against her throat. "Sasuke doesn't want to be touched by you." She spat out. Hinata pressed harder, small beads of blood surfacing. "I won't let you touch him."

Sasuke watched in surprise. Hinata was not only good at acting, fighting, lying and taking people by surprise. She was also very defensive. The corners of his lips lifted slightly.

Hinata leaned close to Karin's ear, her dark hair veiling the twisted smile on her lips. "I'm going to let you in on a little secret." Her smile grew wider. "I like red things. Especially blood. Your eyes are a nice shade of red."

Karin gulped, her body trembling slightly. "If I took out those eyes, you'd bleed a lot too. I could make it look pretty if you really want. I don't mind though, as long as it's red."

Karin tried to shift slightly but Hinata kept her pinned in place. "If you touch him again, I'll take your eyes. Okay?" she breathed. Karin nodded, tears from fear blurring her vision even more.

Hinata giggled slightly before pulling away and standing, looking down at Karin. Karin flinched, earning a smile from Hinata. The Hyuga turned to Sasuke and bent down to whisper something in his ear.

He smirked and nodded, pleased with what she'd done. Suigetsu appeared before Karin, holding out his hand. Karin huffed and lifted herself off the ground, brushing off his offer.

She eyed Hinata before walking to the other side of the clearing, her mind filled with ideas on how to scare the girl who had Sasuke's full attention.


	9. Chapter 9

**I changed the title from Chains to Cursed purely because Cursed is more appropriate. The story has nothing to do with chains unless you count the first chapter so having that as a title doesn't really fit.**

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Hinata sat on a tree branch, swinging her legs and happily humming a lullaby her mother had sung to her. She couldn't remember much of her childhood, yet that song stood out more than memories that she gained days ago.

Although she couldn't remember the exact words and every time she sang it properly, she would change things around. This song was her only source of sanity, the one remaining thing from her life of lies that remained truthful.

Hinata would never be able to say she hated her mother. If she ever did, it would be a lie. A lie to protect her. Aika was more precious to her than her own life. Hinata would willingly die for her mother.

Her mother would never allow that as she didn't believe in self-sacrifice. She's told Hinata several times that as a parent; it was her duty to protect her children.

Hinata smoothly performed various hand signs, creating a small puff of smoke. Left behind from that was a small silver locket, the character for love engraved into it. She clicked open the locket and was greeted by the familiar tune of her lullaby. Tucked inside was a picture of her and her mother.

It was one of the rare photos with Hinata smiling. Her father always said that smiling in photos would ruin the clans reputation, making them seem as though they find things amusing instead of being completely serious with everything they do.

Maybe that was why she grew to hate them. She loathed her clan and if she knew she would definitely succeed and not be caught, she would have slaughtered them by now.

None of them cared about Neji's death; they shrugged it off because he was only a member of one of the branch houses. They'd put on an act in front of the villagers, claiming they were deeply saddened by his passing and praising him.

Hinata always stood at the back, muttering insults to the liars. If any person in the village could hear what they said about him behind closed doors, they'd despise the clan the same way she does.

She snapped the locked shut and hopped down, avoiding catching it on a branch. She unclasped it and began to struggle with trying to re-clasp it around her neck. Her thick hair was getting in the way and despite her having dainty hands, she struggled with small things.

Large hands pushed hers aside, their fingers gripping onto the chain. "Hold your hair up, princess." Hinata obeyed and lifted her hair, waiting patiently whilst Sasuke fiddled with the necklace.

The chain hit the back of her neck, the sharp cold making her jump slightly. He chuckled softly and stepped back, watching as Hinata's hair tumbled down her back.

She turned to face him, flicking her gaze to the approaching Karin and Suigetsu. Karin had a scowl fixed on her face and Suigetsu, even though it was barely noticeable, was blushing.

A small smile spread across Hinata's lips as she looked at Sasuke. He frowned for a second before he realised the two ninja stood a few metres away.

"Your senses are slacking Uchiha." Hinata smirked. Sasuke glared at the girl. The glare passed quickly as he pinned her to the ground, holding her wrists above her head with one hand and leaning on the other.

"Your reflexes are slacking, princess." A smug look of satisfaction graced his features. Hinata puffed her cheeks out and pouted. Sasuke blinked at the expression. She looked somewhat…cute?

He shrugged off the thought and stood, holding his hand out to help her up. Though she was reluctant, she needed to keep up her part of the deal. He hoisted her off and watched as she brushed off bits of dirt.

"Oi, you two lovebirds. We found a path that leads to a place we can stay." Suigetsu's voice drew Sasuke's eyes to him, the look of interest disappearing.

Suigetsu felt slightly insulted. The Uchiha did not find him interesting, instead he thought of him as an annoyance, a tool for him to use for his small schemes.

Karin crossed her arms, glaring at the Hyuga. Hinata smirked at her and stood on her toes behind Sasuke, wrapping her arms around his neck and giggling.

The redhead sharply turned her head to look at a tree, the anger bubbling in the pit of her stomach once again. It was obvious the Hyuga enjoyed aggravating and teasing her.

Karin didn't want to give her the satisfaction of seeing her little actions were affecting her but no matter how much she tried, every time she saw Sasuke enjoying the dark haired females company she wanted to rip her hair out and stamp on her pretty face.

"It's a hot spring so I want to go there as soon as possible." Suigetsu turned on his heel and stalked back into the trees, placing his arms behind his head.

Karin glanced at Sasuke from the corner of her eye, catching onto the way he was smiling at the Hyuga. A low growl rumbled from her chest as she span around and followed Suigetsu, trying to get as far away from the scene as fast as she could.

Hinata unwound her arms and stepped around Sasuke, walking backwards in the direction Suigetsu and Karin had gone. He raised an eyebrow at her and proceeded to follow, his eyes following each individual hair as they swayed in the small breeze that whistled through the old trees.

Hinata lowered herself further into the hot water, letting out a small sigh as the water soothed her aching muscles. Karin sat opposite her, the water almost touching her nose.

"Shy?" Hinata raised an eyebrow.  
"I'm unsure of you, for all I know you could try to molest me."

Hinata's laughter rang out, embarrassing Karin further. "Me? Touch you?" she chuckled. "You've got to be joking."

Karin made a face at her as Hinata raised her head to look at the clouds. The corners of her mouth turned upwards. "I saw that. If you want I can make your face stick like that."

Karin attempted to smirk, resulting in her looking as though she'd been in quite a nasty accident. "No you couldn't."

Hinata lowered her uncovered eye to Karin, calmly assessing her. "You know what clan I come from, right?" Karin shook her head. Hinata scoffed. "You're not very well educated are you?"

Karin growled at her once again, forgetting her plans to not give Hinata any sort of satisfaction.

"I was the heiress of the Hyuga knows about the gentle fist technique and how we can block off chakra points. I also studied medical ninjutsu. I can assure you that I can change your face."

Karin shrank away slightly, catching onto the threat in her voice. Hinata smiled and lifted herself out of the spring. She wrapped a towel around herself and glanced at Karin over her shoulder before stepping through the sliding door.

Karin's eyes followed her exact movements, catching onto the way she would play with the locket on her chest, grip onto it then drop it back on her chest. Unlike other people, Hinata always dropped it on her left side.

A grin spread across Karin's lips.

Hinata slipped into the white robe the hot spring supplied and tied her hair up messily. She turned to the small mirror in the room and padded softly over to it, her eye darting around the room frantically.

Once she was only a few centimetres away, she slid the mask off her eye. The three snakes span around, the area around them darker than the rest of her eye. She lifted her fingers to touch it but stopped midway.

"If I touch it, will it react?" she mumbled to herself. Shaking her head, she placed it back on and took a deep breath. Her petite feet slapped against the hard floor, the sound echoing through the cramped hallways.

She reached the room Sasuke had told her to go to and stepped in. Her eye was instantly drawn to Sasuke. He was stood in the middle of the room, topless with dark purple trousers hanging low on his hips.

His expression was one of surprise. After a few moments of silence, he smirked. "You look terrified, princess." His voice was tinged with amusement.

Hinata stepped back slightly. "Why would I be frightened of you?" She folded her arms and frowned at him. Although she tried to seem tough and unaffected by him, her cheeks were dusted with a light pink.

His smirk widened and he stepped slowly towards her, his look becoming almost predatory. Hinata automatically began to back away more, coming into contact with the door she had shut mere minutes ago.

She turned her head slightly and glared at it as though it had feelings. Using her distraction to his advantage, Sasuke placed his hands on the wall behind her, leaning in so close that their noses were almost touching.

Hinata moved her gaze to him, squeaking at the closeness and heat in his gaze. "I thought you weren't frightened." Hinata relaxed her face and tried to look impassive.

"I'm not."  
"Don't lie to me, princess. You're trembling." He trailed his thumb across her bottom lip, making the Hyuga gasp. "What's wrong?" he placed his mouth next to her ear, brushing against it slightly. "Hi-na-ta."

Hinata clenched her fists. Her legs began to feel weak. Sasuke smiled against her ear and pushed himself off the wall, satisfied with the reaction he got out of her.

He bent down and picked up the shirt he'd tossed on the floor. He slipped it on and began to button it. "I'll sleep on the floor if it affects you that much." He fixed his gaze on the Hyuga leant against the wall.

"If you do that, even though she's stupid, Karin will figure out that this whole relationship is a lie." She stepped closer to the centre of the room and gazed at the forest through the large window, a look of annoyance and uncertainty briefly passing over her features. "As long as you don't try anything funny, Uchiha."

Sasuke opened his mouth to respond but was once again cut off by Hinata. However, this time he wasn't directly cut off by her, he was taken by surprise. Her hands had moved so fast they'd been a blur, the only thing he acknowledged was the kunai slicing through the air and lodging itself into the door.

What amazed him even more was the blood that dripped onto the floor in fat droplets. "Show yourself." Hinata faced the door and folded her arms.

Gradually, a small form came into view. The female's chin length hair was slightly frizzed, her kimono similar to Hinata's. The only difference being that her chest had a large patch of blood staining it.

Her hand clutched her chest, a small amount of sweat trickled down her forehead. Sasuke frowned. He had not noticed her presence at all. He was usually alert and constantly on guard.

He placed his attention on Hinata, his eyes narrowing. This girl was distracting him, making him lower his guard. She had made him do things he wouldn't usually do. He had stayed with her from the moment they escaped from Konoha, even when he had no reason to.

Hinata felt him staring and sent him a brief confused look. Her pale eye was drawn to the patch of blood, her tongue flicking out to lick her lips.

The atmosphere in the room darkened, her seal pulsating. "Sasuke, I-"  
"Whatever, just let it do what it wants to do. I can easily stop you." He perched on the edge of the bed, ready to move at any time. The girl's face had turned white with fear, her whole body shaking.

Hinata closed her eye under her mask as she removed it, letting it clatter to the ground. Her markings spread across her body, looking like small tattoos.

She closed her eyes and formed the tiger hand sign. The markings flashed white and grouped together, branching all over her skin.

Her eyes had developed black pupils similar to a cat's. Her indigo hair darkened to a black that made Sasuke's hair look light. Her canines grew considerably longer, the point of one sticking out slightly.

A small giggle passed her lips, a wide malicious smile joining it. Sasuke ran a hand through his hair and observed. He was curious about her seal as it seemed quite different from his, but at the same time he was unsure about whether or not he should allow her to do what she wants.

Hinata ran to the girl, moving so fast that neither Sasuke nor the girl could register her movement. Sasuke's eyes glowed red, the sharingan allowing him to observe more accurately.

Hinata's slender hands held the girls throat and lifted her off the floor, squeezing her windpipe. The girl squirmed and gasped desperately for air, her nails digging into the Hyuga's wrist.

Hinata squeezed tighter, her eyes not leaving the girls for a second. The girl tried to kick Hinata, attempting anything to break away. Hinata frowned at the girl and used her free hand to snap her legs, laughing when the girl let out a small squeak of pain.

"Hinata." She turned her head to look at Sasuke, a twinkle of hatred in her eyes. "Stop it."

The white receded, the pale peach of her skin returning and her hair lightened, the familiar indigo colour showing itself once again. The canines shrunk back to normal size and the strange pupils disappeared. Her hand let go of the girl's throat, dropping her to the floor like a rag doll.

Hinata stumbled back, her hand over her eye. She was slightly out of breath. The power that she'd felt when using the seal had exhausted her. A burning sensation lingered, buzzing in her fingertips.

Sasuke scooped her up in his arms, ignoring the sharp jolts of chakra her body was giving out. What he had seen was certainly interesting and the reaction afterwards had him slightly confused. He lay her down gently on the bed, shrugging off the glare she shot at him.

A series of shuffles could be heard before the door clicked shut. "Sleep, princess. You need it." He lingered for a second before turning sharply. He paused as his hand was about to make contact, frowning slightly.

He stepped out of the room, shaking his head. The Hyuga had continued to baffle him on this short journey and he was sure she'd continue to do it more.


	10. Chapter 10

**It's been ages since I last updated, I'm sorry  
I kept trying to write but after a few sentences my mind kept going blank ._.  
I'll try to start updating more frequently **

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Hinata sat up once she couldn't sense his presence nearby. Her whole body began to ache and burn, her eye throbbing. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and allowed her toes to touch the floor. Even this slightly contact hurt like hell. She winced and placed both her feet on the floor, scrunching up her face.

"I thought I told you to rest." She jolted her head up to see Sasuke leant against the door, frowning at her.  
"I don't take orders."  
"If you hadn't taken my orders minutes ago, that girl would be dead and we'd have the whole goddamn village sniffing us out."

Hinata turned away from him, looking down at her knees. "I don't need your help, Uchiha."

He was suddenly in front of her, his forefinger lifting her chin so she'd face him. "You mean you don't want my help but you do in fact need it," he smirked "if you don't accept my help, I'll force it."

She glared at him. "You can't force me to do anything." His smirk grew wider, amusement sparking up in his eyes.  
He leaned in closer to her ear, brushing his lips across her cheek. "I can make you do anything I want, princess."

Her body tensed at the contact, a light blush making its way onto her cheeks. The emotionless walls she had tried so hard to build always crumbled around Sasuke.

He smiled against her ear and pulled away. His hands trailed over her thighs and to her ankles, earning a small gasp from Hinata. He looked up at her, a wicked look in his eyes before he gripped onto her ankles and swung them onto the bed.

She refused to make eye contact with him as he pulled the sheets over her. Even when he leaned closer to look at her curse mark she tried to turn away.

"Rest, princess. I'm not leaving this room."

He watched her toss and turn in her sleep, throwing her arms everywhere and shaking her head. Her expression was what caught his attention.

She looked as though she was in pain, her brows furrowed and her mouth open in a silent scream.

He sighed and turned away. She was having nightmares just like he did. Nightmares that were repeated over and over, showing the same things. You'd think that he'd eventually get used to seeing his clans bodies everywhere, his brothers smiling face as he said farewell for the last time.

Yet, he didn't.

The despair only grew more, hatred following closely behind. He had forgiven his brother, his former bitter feelings replaced with love and affection.

The village, however, he could never forgive. No matter how many times they apologised or said that it was in the past, that it doesn't matter anymore, he would never forgive them.

During the war, he had helped Konoha. Not because of the people that lived there nor for the memories that lingered inside the walls, but for the thing his brother wanted to protect.

Sasuke had decided to do something that may have made his brother proud. He threw away his hatred for a small amount of time and fought alongside villagers.

They still decided to turn their backs to him and throw him in a cell. He'd never be able to say Konoha is his home. He'd never be able to say the people there are his comrades, the people he'd entrust his life to.

Sasuke turned his dark eyes back to the restless Hyuga.

Could he call her a comrade?

She had led him from that hell, allowing him to grasp onto freedom once again. She showed no fear towards him and she wasn't a stalker either.

She could relate to him. They both come from powerful clans; both didn't live up to expectations and couldn't protect someone important to them.

He shook the thoughts out his head. Of course he couldn't call her a comrade. Not because he didn't want to.

He couldn't.

Over the years he'd grown colder, blocking everyone out from his own world. He'd suffered because of being close to people and having friends and family.

Things of importance are easily broken.  
That's why.

Hinata sat up, gasping for air. She lifted her hands to look at them, checking to see if the blood she had seen was actually there.

All she saw were crescent moon indents on her palms, her whole body trembling. She lifted her wide eyes to the Uchiha sat across the room, calmly watching.

Raising her hands to her head, she clutched her hair and closed her eyes. Images of Neji flashed through her mind, her hands around his throat and covered in his blood.

She still blamed herself.

If Neji hadn't protected her, he wouldn't have died. It was her duty to protect her clan anyway, she was meant to be the heiress.

Sasuke's fingers wrapped around her wrists and tugged on them, separating the contact between her own fingers and hair. She had started pulling it out, loose strands of indigo lay on the bed sheets.

"Pulling out your hair isn't good, princess. You don't want to go bald now, do you?"

She snatched her hands away and glared at him. Sasuke simply smirked and stepped away from the bed. "You've got five minutes before we leave."

Hinata frowned. They hadn't even been here for a whole day, why would they need to leave early? "Why?"  
"Because of the fun you had. I'm surprised they haven't come for us yet." He chuckled softly.

"Tch." She threw off the sheets and slid off the bed, her legs only trembling slightly. Looking up, she swore that she saw a small glimmer of concern in the Uchiha's eyes but shrugged it off.

He was Sasuke Uchiha, a cold-blooded emotionless monster. He wouldn't be concerned about her.

Raising his hand, he turned and walked to the door. "Five minutes. I'll be counting, princess."

Karin eyed the two dark haired ninja, following all their small movements. They'd been walking for a while now and not made any attempt to form contact with each other.

Frustration began to build up. If she was in Hinata's position she'd be all over Sasuke. Holding his hand, kissing him, hugging him and all the other things normal couples do.

They weren't even talking; they were just walking in silence. Even Suigetsu kept looking at them curiously and raising an eyebrow.

"Aren't you two supposed to be clinging to each other?" she spoke up, flinching at the look the Hyuga sent back. Sasuke snaked his arm over Hinata's shoulders and pulled her to his side.

"Hinata has moments of shyness." He smirked.  
"What are you talking about Sasuke? Didn't you say for me to not show you too much affection because of poor Karin's feelings?" Hinata grinned up at him.

His smirk turned to a scowl.

Karin blushed. "I-is that true, Sasuke-kun? I mean I don't mind at all if you…you know kiss her and stuff in front of me because if you're happy the-"

Hinata turned her head and smiled at the red head. "Sasuke's just a lovely person." Karin looked at her in disbelief and nodded, slowly averting her eyes to the ground.

If she had looked for a few more seconds, she would have seen Hinata mouth the word idiot and smirk.

The silence returned once again, the only sounds being the movement of nature around them and their own footsteps. Hinata raised her head, a peaceful look passing over her features.

She'd always loved sunsets, the colours radiated warmth; something she hadn't received much of when she was younger. The only comfort she had was her mother and even then she was always busy.

It had been a while since she'd been able to enjoy the sunsets outdoors. Being constantly stuck in her house dealing with clan affairs and putting on smiles had always distracted her.

Sasuke watched her from the corner of his eye. The small smile splayed across her lips, the slight frown she usually wore disappeared. The porcelain cheeks now dusted a slight pink.

She moved her eyes to his, catching him staring at her. He abruptly moved his eyes forward, tensing slightly. She raised an eyebrow at his sudden change and turned her gaze away, staring at the floor beneath her.

When he felt it was safe to look again, he returned to watching her. This time, her look was one of despair; a look that mirrored his long ago.

The similarity scared him. When she looked at him it was as though she could see right through him. When he looked at her it was like looking at himself.

He'd never met anyone similar to himself. The people he met either wanted to use him or preached their ideas about justice, begging him to return to Konoha.

The Hyuga was using him, but at the same time he was using her. They were on equal terms; he didn't owe her anything and she didn't owe him anything. There wouldn't be any sort of debt.

As soon as he'd done her the favour she'd requested, she would leave him alone and let him live his own life. Hinata would let him hold onto that freedom she'd granted him.

Even though he didn't show it, being away from Konoha and its shinobi made him feel a small bit of happiness. There was no Orochimaru holding him down and experimenting on him, no revenge that he wanted to desperately seek out. He'd be granted the happiness he'd lost long ago.

But what about the Hyuga?  
Would she ever find that small amount of happiness?


End file.
